PBEL plans township project in Chennai

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PBEL Property Development (India) Ltd on Wednesday outlined plans to develop an integrated housing-cum-commercial township project in Chennai along Old Mahabalipuram Road. PBEL is a venture between Property and Building Corporation Ltd (PBC), a subsidiary of Israeli conglomerate IBD group, Electra Real Estate Ltd, a subsidiary of Elco Holdings Israel, and Hyderabad-based Incor, with the first two firms holding 45 per cent equity apiece and Incor (10 per cent).

The executive director of PBEL Property, Anand Reddy, said that the project will come up on 42-acre that the company has acquired. Of this, about 30 acres would be earmarked for residential and the rest of the 12 acres will be for commercial use, which would include large office and retail area too.

“The first phase of the project will see an investment of Rs 150 crore with a built up area of 4.5 lakh sq ft of residential area. We plan to construct about 1,600 apartments and commercial space with a total outlay of Rs 1,400 crore over the next four-five years,” Reddy at a press conference.

Director and founder of PBEL, Mark Boukris, said that the real estate market in the country has come out of the dull phase.

“The company is currently executing a residential township project on the road leading to the new international airport at Shamshabad. The first phase of 363 apartments on two towers of 20 floors each, now under development by L&T will be ready by middle of 2011. We plan to take up works on the second phase of the project by January 2011,” Reddy added.

Tata Housing to venture abroad via PPP route

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Tata Housing Development Company, a subsidiary of Tata & Sons, is keen to adopt public private partnership (PPP) route to develop integrated residential township projects across the country. While an MoU has already been signed with the Assam government for affordable homes through the PPP route, the company is in talks with a few other state governments. Tata Housing is also planning to adopt this concept for its overseas foray.

“We are very close to signing an agreement, through a third party, with another country. However, we can’t disclose the name of that country at this point,” Brotin Banerjee, managing director and CEO, Tata Housing told reporters. While speculations are that the project might come up in Sri Lanka, company officials remain tightlipped.

“We are in talks with a few state governments in the country. While the governments will be able to bring in the land and ensure associated resources required for the township, we will use our expertise to plan and implement an integrated project with all basic amenities and facilities,” said Banerjee.

According to Banerjee, private developers usually run into issues such as acquisition, conversion and approval leading to project delays. Government comes into the project, it cannot only ensure availability of land with clear title, but also open the opportunity to develop affordable homes for the needy. The state housing boards that were formed for such initiatives have off-late lost their focus, he added.